I dashed away, willing my legs to go faster, then faster more. With a deafening roar, the lion continued its hunt, his heavy paws landing with a 'thomp' every few seconds. Shuddering, I could almost imagine how much the death would hurt.

Ding!

Kill 5 Creatures

Category: Quest

You are strong, but your powers need upgrades... So do something great, and show off your precious skills. We'll definitely get more money, and you might get Gifts. What a win-win!

Reward: 500 New Gems

Failure: 1 Cut

Duration: 24 hours

Kill five creatures, huh. I glanced back at the lion, still dashing away. If all such creatures are as dangerous as that one, I might as well wait it out. Whatever that 'Cut' is, it couldn't be worse than losing my life, but the money I would get from completing this quest... My eyes glowed at the idea of gaining System Currency. The word 'want' buzzed in my ears, but I held myself back. The money this quest promised could be useless, so what could I buy with 500 New Gems?

As if answering me, another blue box popped up in my vision (yet not obstructing it for some reason) and replaced the old box.

I am the Worker in charge of Communication in your System team.

There are many things New Gems can do in the System world, human. The most useful thing to you now would be using it to level up your stats. Our stats system is a very... interesting one, but you will find out later. For now, the first 20 stat gains in each category cost 100 New Gems each. Good luck and get us our pay rise!

I gasped. I could double one of my stats by doing this quest twice. I gritted my teeth and decided to go for it. After playing all my games, if there was one thing that they had in common, it was that stats were important. With that thought, I stopped and turned to face the lion. I could almost hear a cackle in my ears from my Team.

Before it arrived, though, I need to make some preparations. If my understanding of Artist wasn't wrong, it should work, but I still checked the description of Story Weaver just in case there is something that can make my plan more effective.

Story Weaver

Category: Class Skill

The lion should be a piece of cake with this skill combined with Artist! Human, you will come up on top. Just be careful about Mana.

By writing on any medium and with anything, you can craft a story and force it into the real world. Currently, it would be difficult to control existing things, but it is possible. However, if you use it in conjunction to Artist, you can barely control what you draw and make real. It would be easier than controlling the natural laws of your world. The control in general increases with the level of both skills. You can use your mind to create, but be careful of stray thoughts. Comes with paper and pen. We believe we have told you enough, yes?

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

[0/5 Uses to Level 2]

I grinned. The skill matchup was amazing. Whoever my System Team members are, they were not as bad as I feared. Then there was the warning about Mana use. There was not any mention of Mana back in my profile tab, so it was probably a hidden stat. I frowned - maybe I could uncover some information if I spent some time on it, but the lion and the Quest would not wait for me, so I instead focused on activating the two Skills.

I ran towards a nearby patch of grass, hoping that the ground there was soft like the soil before the world's makeover, or the Purge, as the System called it. It was. I bent down, crouching so that my finger touches the dirt. I scrawled out a rough sketch of a large vine. It was crudely made, but it should do as long as the System recognized it as a vine. I drew three more before writing down the characteristics the vines would have: it would be strong, agile, and fast, able to wrap around its target effectively.

Then... Nothing happened. My stomach constricted in panic as I considered the possibility that the Skill might be a fake. I'd be dead then. However, I had a feeling it was not the case. Instead, while staring at the drawing I made, I tried to think of the vines as real, looming over the lion like the apex predator and not a meek little drawing of a plant. I could feel them taking shape in front of me, but I was not done. If drawing it alone was not enough to activate Artist, it means that simply writing down the attributes they would have also would not work.

I hummed, working quickly in my mind as I imagined the attributes as balls of positive energy, and hurled them mentally at the half-formed vines and forcing them to absorb the light as part of their own. When that was done, my eyes snapped open, and I gasped as I was jolted back to reality. By now, the lion was meters away, so I deposited the vines two metres away from me. They appeared out of thin air and began snarling at everything they saw. My stomach clenched in fear as they snapped at me, wondering if I had forgotten to make them calmer towards humans.

Then I remembered the System's explanation of the skill: I could not control their behavior after I created them... So that must be where Story Weaver comes in. Pieces of paper and a pen appeared in front of me as soon as I thought about using the skill, and I wrote fast, keeping a minimal readable quality while trying to come up with a narrative that would help me survive.

Argh, if only I had taken writing more seriously then.

I grunted as I sped through my story, the plot starting to end just as the lion reached the vines. I heaved a sigh of relief, lifting the pen. The paper I used disappeared into a black-covered notebook and floated in the air before me. I grabbed it, feeling the soft leather texture of the plain black cover.

I didn't bother flipping through it, instead watching with nervous eyes at the vines, hoping that the skill would work. The vines sprung to action as if called on by a special force - Story Weaver, probably. They coiled themselves around the beast's legs, one gripping onto each like I had described in my pages. It was working so far, but I needed one more player for my story to end. I bent down again, scratching at the dirt. It was a new, much bigger vine compared to the rest of its bethren, and I designed it to be so to fulfill a special role.

Like before, I scribbled its traits into the dirt before beginning my visualization, feeling a little dizzy. As the balls of light closed in on the vine and were absorbed at last, I felt a wave of fatigue wash over me and I wobbled, almost falling to the ground. I sat on the grass and behind my drawings as I watched my vines do their work. As the others restricted the lion's movements, their newest addition wrapped itself around its neck, squeezing while a liquid secreted out from its green stem.

I winced. Acid was something I only reluctantly added in, so watching the beast getting corroded from outside still churned my stomach. It wasn't so much about killing the animal than the method - it was gross. But necessary.

The vines had done their work by now, the lion's head coming off from its neck with a wet 'splat' as the vines began to feed on the corpse. As I tried not to look, I realized that I had overlooked something. After my script for them finished, they would probably go back ti being mindless beasts that devoured anything alive nearby. The first thing they eat would be... me.

I called the paper forth again, and the pen materialized on my outstretched palm. I hastily began to write down the true ending to the vines' story. As soon as I finished, my vision started to blur once again, before going dark. Just as I fell into unconsciousness, I heard ding noises. My head hit the soft grass, but by then I had already fainted.